The practice and study of Pharmacy is as old as Indus valley civilization in India. Ancient records of the Indian tradition testify the search of Rishis and Sages for traditional medicine called 'Kaya Kalpa Chikitsa'. But the practice of Pharmacy in the modern context is only 100 years old. The Pharmacy education in India has a long history characterized by slow growth between 1842 to 1932.
Important events:
■ 1842 - first recognized Pharmacy course in India - Escola Medico de Goa (Certificate course)
■ 1860 - Madras Medical College (Certificate course in Pharmacy)
■ 1860 - 1920 - Certificate courses in Pharmacy at Medical Colleges of Vishakhapatnam, Kolkata, Cuttack, Dhaka, Allahabad, Banaras, Lucknow, Meerut, Mumbai and Nagpur.
■ 1930 - The Drugs enquiry committee under the Chairmanship of Lt. Col. Dr. Ramnath Chopra - a great leap for the profession of Pharmacy in India.
Prof. M. L. Schroff on the call of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviyaji the then Vice - Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University started a regular B.Pharm. course of 3 years in July, 1937. Since then Pharmacy education is making rapid strides in India. Later several other Universities followed suit in starting B.Pharm. programme. Some of the important milestones are
■ 1945 - University of Bombay
■ 1947 - University Department of Pharmacy - Punjab University.
■ 1947 - L. M. C. P., Ahmedabad.
■ 1950 - BITS, Pilani
■ 1951 - Andhra University, Vishakapatnam.
■ 1956 - Saugar University, Saugar.
■ 1956 - Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagpur University, Nagpur
Growth
Prior to independence there were very few Pharmacy institutions in the country and areas of study in the subject were limited. Despite serious handicap of means and resources, the country has built up during the last 50 years a very large system of Pharmacy Education and today has created a vast body of men and women equipped with a higher order of technological capabilities in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Today there are 500 institutions offering D.Pharm., 520 institutions offering B.Pharm., and 70 institutions offering PG in Pharmaceutical Sciences and 25 approved center for Doctoral Research in Pharmacy. The number of students studying Pharmacy in the country has reached a substantial figure and there are around 6,000 teachers in Pharmacy. The Government expenditure alone was of the order of 150 million in 2005 -'06 and in subsequent years the figure has raised even higher.
Objectives
The most important objectives are:
■ To provide the right kind of pharmaceutical leadership by helping the individuals develop their potential.
■ To provide the country with competent men & women trained in Pharmacy profession, who as individuals are inclined with a sense of purpose.
■ To bring the Pharmacy colleges closer to the community through extension of Pharmaceutical knowledge and its applications for problem solving.
■ To foster in Pharmacy teachers and students and through them in society the attitudes and values needed for developing good life in individuals and society.
■ Address the Pharmaceutical problems for National Development particularly issues concerning self reliance, economic growth, employment and National integration.
■ Relate to the life, needs and aspirations of the people.
■ Help improve Pharmaceutical productivity by emphasizing work emphasis, vocationalization, improvement in Pharmaceutical Education and Research.
■ Inculcate social, moral and rational values in the people.
Structure and system of governance of pharmacy institutes
The structure of Pharmacy education consists of two years of D.Pharm. (after 12 years of formal School education), four years Bachelor programme (B.Pharm.) followed by two years of study for a Master Degree. The Ph.D. degree usually takes three years or longer.
The Pharmacy institutions in the country offering these programs are of various kinds like affiliating to an University or Government colleges, University Departments or quasi government, single campus or multi campus, self financing or supported by the grant of the government. Most of the Pharmacy colleges are affiliating colleges which are linked to a University and the University prescribes the course of study, conducts examinations and awards the Degrees and in some cases the University Department itself imparts PG programme and Research Degrees.
The government Pharmacy colleges are established by state governments and get support from the state government for their maintenance. Some of the notable colleges in this category are: Government college of Pharmacy, Karad and Government college of Pharmacy, Bangalore. But such type of colleges are very few in the country. In the Indian mixed economy a contribution of private sector has been substantial and today 80% of the Pharmacy colleges in the country are in the private sector.
Private Pharmacy colleges do provide financial relief to the government in providing Pharmacy education but at huge and long term economic and non-economic cost to the society. The private Pharmacy colleges charge fees which is comparatively much higher than the government institute since they have to cover all their operational expenditure. In the other context several colleges also make profits by compromising on quality of the education. The government wants to encourage private initiative in Pharmacy education but not its commercialization.
Significant progress has been made in the recent years not only in the development and strengthening of Pharmacy education in terms of improved student access, strengthened research and postgraduate programmes, adoption of new teaching and delivery methods, enhanced institutional management, strategic planning capacity, improved academic discipline. The main purpose is to ensure the standardization of curriculum in undergraduate programme and better evaluation of students. The system of affiliated Pharmacy colleges involved determination of curriculum by the University but with the expansion of the Pharmacy institutions in the country the system has become counter productive and has caused serious damage to the process of teaching and learning, relevance of the curriculum and evaluation of students.
The current trend is autonomous colleges. Several Pharmacy colleges in the country are going in this direction to ensure quality, relevance and better assessment methodologies of students. Under this arrangement the faculty of Pharmacy colleges decide the curriculum and conduct the evaluation of their students through system of continuous evaluation.
Quality
Quality and standards of Pharmacy education are maintained based on the major initiatives taken by UGC and AICTE. Some of the important steps in this direction are
■ Improvement in the quality and standards of teaching and research through setting up centers of National Excellence like NIPER
■ Provision of scholarships and fellowships to PG and Research students
■ Periodic review and renewal of curricular content of B.Pharm. and M.Pharm.
■ Planned and coordinated development of Pharmacy Education in the country
■ Modernization of the laboratories and workshops, MODRABS, Technology Forecasting Assessment council (TIFAC)
The AICTE act provides for the constitution of a National Board of Accreditation (NBA) to initiate the accreditation of Pharmacy and other Technical institutions. The NBA benchmarks the performance of premier Pharmacy institutions so that a frame of reference for the evaluation of the performance of the Pharmacy institutions can be initiated.
Pharmacy teachers need to update their knowledge to keep them abreast of the latest innovations in the field. The AICTE nodal centers setup in the several places play a key role in providing continuing education to the Pharmacy teachers. The AICTE nodal centers provide career advancement schemes for in-service Pharmacy teachers and also conducts short term Refresher courses in topics of relevance. The short-term orientation and refresher programmes conducted by AICTE are of 3-4 weeks duration and provide a greater impact on the quality of Pharmacy teaching and learning. Similarly AICTE and UGC also conduct seminars, workshops and summer schools in Pharmaceutical sciences so as to help the Pharmacy teachers upgrade their knowledge.
Financing of pharmacy institutions
Now a days with the declining or stagnant budgets especially for Pharmacy colleges, there is an increasingly felt need to become financially self reliant by generating resources not only through increase in fees but also through other measures such as augmentation of financial resources from Pharmaceutical industrial corporate sector in the form of donations by forging effective tie-up with the industry.
Some of the measures by which resource generation is possible are:
■ Government - Central and State government grants for projects and research activities.
■ Non governmental sector - students/parents - fees and other maintenance expenditure
■ Community - Donations and endowments.
■ Tie-up with Pharmaceutical industries by having memorandum of understanding.
■ AICTE grants for recurring expenditure on research.
■ Bank loans for developmental projects
■ Loans for infrastructural development from World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and UNESCO at a very nominal rate of interest.
Centres of Excellence in pharmaceutical sciences
The gradual expansion of Pharmacy educational system required the development of excellence. The Centers of Excellence provide inputs for research at internationally comparable standards and for strengthening infrastructural facilities for Postgraduates and Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences. The establishment of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) at Mohali, Chandigarh had a major impact on raising the standards and promoting excellence in Pharmaceutical education. Recently NIPER has envisaged an expansion plan where upon five new branches of NIPER at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Patna and Hajipur have been established with an initial investment of Rs. 200 Crores at each center. This is a very good step which makes quality research in Pharmacy accessible to all parts of the country equitably.
Research & Development
Research is promoted by encouraging students to do M.Pharm. and Ph.D. Research. The AICTE provides financial assistance to those who are meritorious and propose to pursue research. The meritorious students are selected through GATE conducted by the IITs and IISc. Pharmacy Teachers are encouraged to do research through award of minor and major research projects. Similarly there are schemes of Research associateship, scientist ship, emeritus fellowship, teacher fellowship and career awards through which research work is supported by providing financial assistance to Pharmacy teachers.
Development of bilateral linkages in specific areas of Pharmaceutical Sciences between the identified departments of Universities and institutions of Pharmacy is also done. Similarly an academic link interchange scheme with UK and Germany for the award of commonwealth fellowships and BOYCAST and DAAD fellowships are provided to enable promising Pharmacy faculty members in Universities and colleges in India to do research work at the Universities and institutions in UK and Germany.
Due to the government policy initiatives for strengthening research and development in Pharma sector by way of fiscal incentives and other steps to strengthen regulatory mechanism, new R&D setups with excellent infrastructure are coming up in various regions of the country. Today a few leading Indian Pharma companies have increased their R&D spending to over 5% which is a noteworthy achievement. Indian companies have also been making rapid strides in the field of Biotechnology, Recombinant DNA technology, in addition to the production to the Hepatitis B Vaccine and the manufacture of r-DNA insulin. Indian Pharma companies have developed cost effective processes for interferon besides working on newer vaccines and diagnostic kits.
Current scenario
We entered the new millennium with greater emphasis on higher education, especially professional education. The years gone by have witnessed dramatic changes in educational system. Now women are actively involved in higher education and more and more students are getting enrolled in Universities. As a result, there is mushrooming of institutes offering higher education in India.
Globalization has revolutionized educational process across the globe. In modern India education is becoming an internationally traded commodity and no longer a skill, attitude and values imparting system. Education system is a knowledge industry under service sector with the entire globe as a market where every individual works for profit making. In this industry, students are customers, teachers are promoters and institutions are service providers.
In today's India, educational process is no longer considered for building nation but a business venture for future profit making. Institutions/Universities are donning international cap and are considering themselves as a part of global network. Few institutions are already having understanding with institutions, industries at National and International level for collaborative research programmes. Terms like internationalization, globalization of education are making rounds. Modernization of education is essential but not at the expense of losing its basic essence.
Today, Pharmacy education is mostly governed by bodies other than its own self. The institutions imparting Pharmacy education are affiliated to the medical University or technical University whereas the standards and norms for running the institute are prescribed by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), the statutory body of the profession, derives satisfaction in being a silent spectator and as a member of other bodies governing the Pharmacy profession, rather than amending the Pharmacy Act broaden the objectives and functioning of the council. The Pharmacy degrees are awarded by faculties of science, technology or medicine rarely by the faculty of Pharmacy. are awarded by faculties of science, technology or medicine rarely by the faculty of pharmacy.
The Pharmacist has lost his professional standing primarily because the patient can not visualize him as a tradesman and a professional simultaneously. Pharmacy is maturing as a clinical profession and presently is well positioned to transform itself from a product oriented to a patient oriented profession. The profession as a whole now must dedicate itself to the philosophy of practice that clearly identifies the patient as its primary beneficiary. Pharmacists are embracing changing professional roles. However, several factors impair the adoption of new roles.
■ Including lack of consensus regarding the profession's goals.
■ Lack of reimbursement for Pharmacist's clinical services.
■ Lack of professional competence and self-confidence.
■ Under development of Pharmacist's interpersonal skills.
■ Work environment that provides little or no opportunity for patient centered activities.
Pharma vision
The global vision of Pharmaceuticals, branded and generics put together is of the order of US$ 550 billion. The Indian Pharma industry at present has a turnover of US$ 12.5 billions of generics for domestic and export markets. India has got a core competence of producing cost effective and quality Pharma products. The Pharmaceutical science and practice have made tremendous progress during the last two decades. Several life saving drugs have been discovered during this period and practically some of the disease have been totally eradicated. Pharmacist from the dispenser of medicines has emerged as a knowledge worker who not only dispenses medicines but also is the provider of information on medicines to the patients and other healthcare professionals. The factors promoting changing professional role of a Pharmacist include
■ To positively impact patients during drug therapy outcomes through disease state management.
■ Expanded use of technology and technicians in the dispensing process.
■ Increased demand for drug information among health professionals and consumers.
■ New opportunities for creating tailored drug therapy as the field of genomics.
■ Pharmacogenomics is better understood and expanded practice roles in community, ambulatory, long-term care, and home care settings.
Future perspectives
In the new millennium due to technological innovation and improved communication, drastic changes are taking place. The field of Pharmacy cannot keep away from changes.
Harmonization of Pharmaceutical education has to be made a global agenda that will encompass the developments that have taken place in basic, medical, pharmaceutical sciences in serving the needs and expectations of society.
In this changing scenario the relevance of traditionally offered product and industry centered Pharmacy education (undergraduate) must be reviewed.
An effective Pharmacy education policy should be drawn up governing the Pharmacy education all over the country. The broad outline of the said Pharmacy education policy must highlight:
■ The formulation of new statutory body or the strengthening of the existing statutory body to govern Pharmacy education at diploma, degree, PG and research levels.
■ The emergence of Pharmacy education as a profession by itself without the dominance of medical or technical education.
■ Review of ER of the Pharmacy Act on a nationally perspective on ground facilities rather than hypothetical claims of projections.
■ Evolving on a national basis, the broad norms for recruitment of teaching manpower and guidelines benefiting scales of pay for them.
■ An all India Entrance Examination Board for conducting an aptitude test for admission to Pharmacy courses.
(The author is principal, Veerayatan Institute of Pharmacy and dean, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, K. S. K. V. Kachchh University, Kutch.)